How long can AIDS and HIV live outside of the body?

Question

Here is an example that can easily get my point across:
If, say for instance, I had AIDS and their were a nail sticking out of a wall and while walking, I happen to get a really heaping hash right in my leg, and blood is flowing and I get home ASAP to patch it up. How long after that can someone else cut their leg on that nail and still be without AIDS?

I'm just really curious, I Wikied it and everything (I dont trust anything accept WIkipedia) and it didn't provide the information. I hope their are some smarties out their that can gimme' the info. thanks!
-Andrew

Answer 1

Hello:
I am going to answer your question as best as I can based on the literature out there including information from the CDC. I treat a lot of HIV/AIDS patients in my practice.
Because HIV is such a "weak" virus, ie. it dies quickly outside of the human body or in body fluids, it is highly unlikely that someone could contract the virus in the fashion you described. Most of the literature states that the virus dies within ten minutes in body fluid that is outside the body. It has to do with the ambient temperature falling once the fluid is outside the body.
Now, a very large amount of blood could indeed transmit to another person. The person is probably more likely to get tetanus if they are not up to date on their booster shot.
When you cut yourself, it takes a few seconds for the blood to start flowing, so chances are there probably wouldnt be much blood or none at all on the nail unless you stood there with the nail still in contact with your body for a few seconds.
Off the subject, Hepatitis B is a different study. The other person is 100 times more likely to get Hep B from the nail than HIV. I read some of your responses. I have never heard of the study done that proved that HIV can live outside the body for days. I am in contact with Dr. Henry Masur, the Department Head at The National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD in HIV and AIDS research. I will ask him tomorrow about that response that was posted but I can say with 99 percent certainty that it is not true.
I hope this helped answer your question and I will update you if I find information that refutes that response.
Regards,
Warren Shaffer, M.D.

Answer 2

Most sites I've read mention 20 minutes as the maximum. There was one site that mentioned that HIV in the lab survived in dried blood for two days. But I don't know if this information is true. Everyone agrees that the HIV virus is very fragile and easily killed by oxygen (air), bleach, etc, but is more resistant to alcohol. Dabbing the nail with hydrogen peroxide will quicken mortality.

Answer 3

Aids like seaman can not live outside the body for long. It needs a human host to survive. Example if a mositque bits a person with aids gets that persons blood then goes to another person with out aids bites that person too, the mositque can not past the AIDS viruse because it has to have a human host.

Answer 4

i understand the hiv virus can live outside the human body no more than 4 seconds.
however i am not a doctor

Answer 5

Disease such as aids cant last more than 30 minutes outside your body.

You should be safe